1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electromagnetic valve for use with a high-pressure fuel supply system for controlling the amount of fuel discharge of a fuel pump that supplies a high-pressure fuel to an internal combustion engine for instance.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the past, an electromagnetic (or solenoid) valve has been known which includes a solenoid, a plunger arranged on an axis of the solenoid for movement in an axial direction thereof, a body in which the plunger is slidably received, a housing in which the body is arranged and fixedly secured to an inner surface thereof, a valve seat arranged in opposition to one end of the plunger so that the one end of the plunger can be moved into or away from the valve seat, and a spring for urging the plunger toward the valve seat. The body is composed of a large diameter portion and a small diameter portion, and a caulking portion, which is formed by bending or flexing the one end of the housing, is engaged with a stepped portion between the large diameter portion and the small diameter portion, whereby the body and the housing are integrally coupled with each other (for instance, see a first patent document: Japanese patent laid-open No. Sho 61-261654).
In the electromagnetic valve as constructed above, in order to form the stepped portion for engaging the caulking portion, the body is constructed of the large diameter portion and the small diameter portion. As a result, there arises a problem that the outside diameter of the body becomes large, accordingly increasing the size of the electromagnetic valve itself.
In addition, since the stepped portion is located on the outer peripheral surface of the body, there also arises another problem that it is necessary to employ two separate processes for forming the entire outer peripheral surface of the body, i.e., one process for forming the large diameter portion and another process for forming the small diameter portion.